Reading costs questioned

A reading recovery programme is too expensive for schools and could probably be better designed to cater for more students, a Wairarapa principal says.

Featherston School principal Phil Robertson told the Times-Age only about four Year 1 pupils were now enrolled in the programme, at a cost of about $6000 to the school.

"For the same money ... we think we could maybe do more for a greater range of kids.

"It's probably okay in schools with only a few children with those sorts of problems. But if you have got a lot of them ... $6000 is very expensive for only three or four kids."

Reading recovery provides one-on-one teaching for students who have struggled with literacy learning in their first year of school.

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The programme currently helps about 14 per cent of 6-year-olds nationwide.

Mr Robertson said the decile three school, which had 77 students from Year 1 to 8, had identified at least 10 students who needed more help with reading.

"We also want to be able to provide ongoing assistance. Reading recovery is relatively short term."

His comments follow Labour's new education policy announcement outlining plans to extend the reading recovery programme to schools.

Labour leader David Shearer applauded the "gold standard" programme for its 80 per cent-plus success rate in a keynote speech last weekend.

Mr Shearer said only 59 per cent of low-decile schools had access, compared with 73 per cent of high-decile schools.

Labour planned to extend the programme to all schools, making it available to about 5000 more 6-year-olds each year, costing an extra $20 million a year.

The party has also proposed a similar maths recovery programme for seven and eight-year-old students and has pledged to provide free food for all 650 decile one to three schools at an annual cost of up to $19 million.

Mr Shearer yesterday justified the policies, which received backing from the New Zealand Educational Institute and Kids Can Charitable Trust - an organisation that provides breakfast in schools.

"If kids can't get to school and be ready to actually learn then they're not going to learn," Mr Shearer said.

"Fifty per cent of our prison population are functionally illiterate so we've got to really make an effort to make sure that those kids don't slip behind."